The goals of this program are to improve California State University's (CSUN) research capacity and infrastructure and to increase minority participation in basic biomedical research. The majority of the students who attend CSUN are ethnic minorities (39.8% are underrepresented minorities;University enrollment 31,312, fall 2004). There will be a direct effect on enhancing minority participation in science. Improving research capacity of faculty and students: This proposed MBRS SCORE program includes 18 full SCORE proposals and 3 pilot SCORE proposals. The proposed projects are from diverse fields including theoretical and materials physics, cellular, physiological, genetic, and developmental biology, chemistry and biochemistry, disease processes and social and neuropsychology. Improving the research infrastructure: Cutting-edge research requires instrumentation that is expensive and complex. The successful completion of projects included in this proposal requires specialized instruments. We are requesting support to purchase equipment that will bring the DNA sequencing facility up-to-date and to begin its transformation into a Center for Cellular, Genetic, and Molecular Analysis. Meeting the specific outcomes presented in the following project proposal will fulfill the mission of the MBRS SCORE program which is to "....significantly improve the research capabilities of minority and minority-serving institutions....to increase the number of underrepresented minorities participating in biomedical and behavioral research." The funding provided by the NIH for the CSUN SCORE program will improve the quality and quantity of biomedical research conducted in the laboratories of the PIs and in the affected departments. We expect that 12 of the proposed SCORE PIs will arrive at a point in their research careers after this round of SCORE that they will be able to successfully compete for R01-type of research support. The students, many of whom are underrepresented in basic biomedical sciences, in these departments will have the opportunity to become engaged in top-notch research that will be conducted in SCORE-supported laboratories.